Showoff Thread: Stormtrooper ANH Gloves with Rubber Handguards

[Stormtrooper]

I posted these on my 'Super Accurate ANH/ESB Stormtrooper Costume' thread over in the Costunimg Forum, but I've moved it here as it was taking the thread Off-Topic (again!) I'd rather see more accurate costumes on that thread than questions about the gloves

I've been searching for a looong time to find accurate ANH Stormtrooper rubber gloves, including checking 3 different types of NBC (Army Nuclear Biological Chemical) gloves, that I thought were likely to have been used back in 1976
The High Resolution pic of Han in Stormtrooper disguise at the bottom of this post (Thanks to Paul C) show where the gloves have chcquered areas on the outisides of the fingertips. To the best of my knowledge this is the first proof we've seen of this pattern on the ANH stormie gloves, and believe me, I've seen a LOT of photos and videos etc. from behind the scenes

Well I've finally managed to find rubber gloves that are indistinguishable from the originals, and for all I know they may even be the same type as used in ANH. They have the aforementioned chequered patterns on the fingernail areas, as well as the palm of the glove.

I've never been a big fan of *vac-formed* plastic handplate armour for ANH troopers so I set about making some latex ones that I could glue onto the back of the rubber gloves...





Those aren't *my* sausage fingers by the way... they're my mannequin's LOL



Note the dark honey-colour of the cured latex on the back of the handguard on the right of the picture. If you watch ANH frame-by-frame as I often do you'll see loads of places where the white paint/dye has worn-off the troopers handguards, exposing this dark latex colour... probably with handling the blasters etc. etc.

Well I couldn't let my mannequin have all the fun, so I suited-up and grabbed a resin ANH blaster for a pic or two:



And finally, just for fun I took a section from a movie still of Han in the detention block, cropped one of my pics and grayscaled it to see how they'd compare:



This is not an Interest Thread, as I don't know if I'll be making anymore or not at this stage... If I do decide to then I'll post one up in the Junkyard.
Just wanted to show the fruits of my labour

Cheers,
John

[KevVader]

Nice find! I'd be interested in a set of latex handplates if you do decide to do a run.

Nice job!

[damon5973]

sorry if this is off topic..it is really, but man...look at that trigger guard on the blaster ont he Han blaster..

d formed big time..unless that is trick photography..

great find ont he gloves..they look great..

perfect for the trash compactor scene

[rmschneider104]

Yeah, Brad noticed what I noticed... how out of shape that trigger guard is. Must have gotten a lot of use.

Yes, the rubbler gloves look very, very close. You got a great match there. Your labor is paying you dividends in the accuracy department. Nice Job!

[CTF]

The rubber plates look awesome!

And if those gloves are accurate... well, then I have some.

[takevin]

gloves will be good for the mannequin, not for trooping as they will hold the sweat in. I used a pair like that at first and switched over to something more practical for trooping.

[lambotour]

Yeah, the plates look real nice John! I also have a pair of those gloves on my ST mannequin for a couple of years now, but didn't know if they were accurate or not.

[Bountyhunter Niko]

[FONT=Arial][COLOR=white]Thanx for sharing.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][COLOR=white]Just today I was out looking for some screen accurate gloves. I saw the ones that you have shown and thought – ‘I don’t think there is grip on the tips’- so I didn’t buy them. [/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][COLOR=white]Better go back now.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][COLOR=white]Cheers, Niko.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[JoeR]

Those hand plates are looking superb John. Nice work.

Joe

[Apollo]

Nice Job on the plates!

They and the gloves look spot on!

[Stormtrooper]

Thanks everyone for the nice remarks... although it seems that I'm the last person on the planet to find this particular type of rubber glove!
I hadn't realised that they were so common - obviously I've been looking in all the wrong places

Can some of the U.K. members tell me where they got theirs from? I've been up and down the aisles of B&Q dozens of times, checked army surplus stockists etc. etc.
Damn, I had to buy a shatload of these gloves just to get a couple for myself! I didn't realise that they were 'common knowledge'!
It seems logical that the originals were sourced from the U.K. so it would be interesting to know if the American gloves are exactly the same type of glove? Hardly matters, as the pics I've seen from a U.S. member look close enough to the ones I have anyways!

takevin - you're right, cotton / lycra gloves would be much better for trooping.
These rubber gloves have a light flock lining which helps a little bit, but you wouldn't want to wear 'em for a 4 hour trooper in Florida or So. Cal . Alaska.... you might get away with it! LOL

Glad you guys like the handplates, more importantly.... latex is a real pain in the butt to work with... takes forever to cure, and is incredibly hard to trim with a pair of shears/scissors (the originals were a bit rough around the edges - I guess this is why)
I've got some liquid latex left over, and dozens of these friggin' gloves (LOL ) so check the Junkyard over the weekend...

Cheers,
John

[Keith]

John,

I think my wife got mine from Asda. The only propblem with them is that you have to change them every 6 months or so for new ones, as they turn grey.

Keith.

[Stormtrooper]

John,

I think my wife got mine from Asda. The only propblem with them is that you have to change them every 6 months or so for new ones, as they turn grey.

Keith.

Hi Keith,

Bleedin 'eck... Asda! LOL Do they stock 5 litre drums of liquid latex as well, by any chance?

With the gloves being latex they do tend to have a greyish / chalky sheen to them... but I sprayed mine with a LIGHT spray of sillicone shiny spray stuff from an online fetish store (my eBay Feedback is very... interesting )

...if you only give them a light spray and light buff it seems to keep them looking *ordinary* black colour like when they are new.
It's only when you go over board with spraying and buffing that they end up artificially shiny 'wet look' like fetish wear

HTH,
John

[lambotour]

John, these are the ones that I have. I purchased them at a local Home Depot here in the US a couple of years ago. I'm assuming they are the same as yours?

[Stormtrooper]

Lambotour,

Yep, those look pretty much the same as mine... all these years searching for something that was readily available! D'OH!
Although, until I saw the pic of Han in the detention block, I was searching for gloves *without* the chequered area, so I probably did see these correct ones at some stage and discount them as being inaccurate

Do the Home Depot ones have TOUGHIE printed in white writing on the inside of the wrist area? (as mine do)

Isn't it cool that after all thees years high resolution stills are appearing from the Star Wars movies that's helping us to identify stuff?
Using the VHS, DVD and now HD version of ANH as a reference I find it impossible to tell if there are chequered areas on the trooper gloves, or not.
And believe me, I'm no stranger to frame-by-frame analysis and obsessive research: :redface



Note the dark honey-coloured reverse of one of the replica handplates.

Look at the condition of Luke's handguards in the screengrab below:



Just like the Stormtrooper helmets, these things were a bit rough 'n' ready in places...

Cheers,
John

[Ronz]

Yep you can buy them just about anywhere in UK for a couple of quid. Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsburys or your local hardware store. Jeez, I wish I'd known before now I could have made a killing shipping them to you guys!

[Keith]

but I sprayed mine with a LIGHT spray of sillicone shiny spray stuff from an online fetish store (my eBay Feedback is very... interesting )

I bet you shop there all the time

Very nice handguards btw

Keith.

[phase pistol]

Those gloves remind me of some Playtex dishwashing gloves that my mother used to use... back in that time frame as well.

- k

[Funky Jedi]

I just picked up two pairs at Home Depot about 10 minutes ago. Made by "Quickie". In the home cleaning section, 4.88 each. They come in medium, large and XL.

I was thinking...I think I'll cut some holes on the tops of the gloves (hidden by the hand plate) for ventilation.

[Funky Jedi]

I had no idea the hand plates were latex in the movie.

[Stormtrooper]

I had no idea the hand plates were latex in the movie.

Yes indeed they were - pause a few frames the next time that you watch A.N.H. (like when the trooper with the E-11 is searching the Falcon, walking past camera.... just before Han & Co. pop out of the smuggling compartments).
Look closely and you'll see the trooper's handplate has the paint chipping off and the brown colour of the latex below showing through, especially on the exposed edges and corners.

A lot of screengrabs/stills also show residue around the handplates (on the black gloves) which is either the glue used to stick 'em on, or instances where the costume department has hastily touched-up the paint of the handguards on-set, and gotten some onto the gloves by mistake

I can also remember John Mollo stating in an interview, that they were cast in rubber. It wasn't until TESB and ROTJ that they realised vac-forming them in plastic was a helluva lot easier D'OH!

Keith - glad you like them mate I swear I'm not a regular customer at the online fetish store (not that there's anything wrong with that ) but it seemed a shame to waste money on shipping, so I stocked up on a ****, a couple of *****'s and a really cool 'glow in the dark' *** *****
j/k of course! LOL

Cheers,
John

[Stormtrooper]

Here's a few more pics that y'all might like to see :







Enjoy!

Cheers,
John

[Stormtrooper]

....like when the trooper with the E-11 is searching the Falcon, walking past camera.... just before Han & Co. pop out of the smuggling compartments).
Look closely and you'll see the trooper's handplate has the paint chipping off and the brown colour of the latex below showing through, especially on the exposed edges and corners.

And here's a screengrab of what I was talking about, right here:



Maybe I should go get the sandpaper?

Cheers,
John

[Stormtrooper]

I bet you shop there all the time

Very nice handguards btw

Keith.

yeah, and I've got a 5% discount loyalty card and all!.... I wonder if I could convert those leopardskin-fur handcuffs into screen-accurate ANH Chewbacca binders?

Glad you like the handguards, mate... I know you're an accuracy nut like myself

I have some liquid latex left over so I'll be posting in the Junkyard later on....

Cheers,
John

[TK8410]

Excellent job John, they look the bollocks mate

Cheers, Gord.